Is that March right around the corner?

Wow what a low post total for the month of February, especially considering how much has been going on around here these last few weeks.

Zach has been pulling double duty all month between basketball and soccer. So far he's had a very successful basketball season and is averaging 8 points and 14 rebounds a game. This weekend we'll all be down in Pueblo for the Sunbelt Classic soccer tournament. Then next weekend Zach has his first two regular season soccer games as well as the first round of basketball playoffs...that's a total of 7 games in 4 days!

This week John and Zach went to the Nuggets vs Celtics game for a little father-son outing. Then two days later we packed up the whole family and headed to the Pepsi Center to watch the Nuggets beat the Hawks...by one point. Cameron and Ashley loved watching Rocky and enjoyed their blue cotton candy.

Cameron and Ashley have been staying busy with friends, movies and playdates. John and I took them to see Coraline in 3D...it was a little on the creepy side but we all liked it. Cameron is learning about Native American Indians and just went on a really fun school fieldtrip to the Natural Science Museum. Ashley had a little baking party with Bridget and they made some yummy sugar cookies...but really they wanted to pull out her Easy bake oven and I suggested that they bake something that is actually edible...have you ever tried cake cooked with a light bulb? Yeah not so good.

Here are a few pictures from this last week...

♥♥Best Valentine's Day Ever!!♥♥

Valentine's day is usually a pretty low key holiday at our house...the Valentine's Fairy always stops by and leaves us some fun treats on the door step and John and I usually exchange cards and heart shaped boxes of chocolates...a few times there have even been flowers or maybe even a dinner...but not this year.

Oh don't worry the Valentine fairy paid us a visit but this year for some reason John and I both decided to surprise each other with fantastic Valentine's day surprises...much to the others surprise...did you get that we were both very surprised!!

John had to work all day on Saturday...so I arranged for Courtney and Andra to stay with the kids while I stole John away for the night. I packed our bags, then picked him up and told him our destination...the Embassy Suites DTC...which happens to be the very same hotel where we were married almost 13 years ago...he was so SURPRISED. He was also starving and suggested that we stop for dinner but SURPRISE waiting for him at the hotel was his favorite meal...smothered chicken burritos and the best salsa on the planet from El Parell. We ate dinner by candle light, then headed down to the pool and ended up sitting in the hot tub for an hour, back in the room we ate an amazing dessert even though we were still stuffed from dinner and then we just relaxed...marveling at how very quiet it was and all the while I was feeling rather pleased with myself at how well my little surprise gift was received.

In the morning, after sleeping in a bit, we had the wonderful Embassy Suites breakfast...complete with made to order omelets and Belgian waffles...so good. Rejuvenated and feeling like newlyweds we checked out of the hotel and headed for home...but on the way home John made a detour and said that we had to make a quick stop to pick something up. He then handed me a receipt from the day before...it was from a furniture store...and the two items listed just happened to be the same two brown and red floral accent chairs I had been eyeing recently. I love this man!!

Now and forever these two lovely chairs will be known as

the Valentine chairs.
And yes I was very surprised!!

Valentine Boxes 101

Here are the kids Valentines boxes for their school parties.

Ashley went for a cute modern looking box...decorated with sparkly heart stickers and her very pretty handwriting.

Zach wanted to keep his simple...you know because he is a super cool grown up 6th grader after all.

Cameron...well Cameron never looks at things the way most people do.
Cam took one look at his basic shoe box and instantly saw the makings of a blue alien or monster...we're actually not quite sure. He loves that his box will actually eat all his Valentines and then he gets to perform surgery to get them out!
Gotta love this kid!!!

All better...

Goodbye January....Hello month of LOVE.

Alright, it's safe to come back in now...even I read my last post and can't help but feel sorry for that poor family. But lately things seem to be going much better around here, so you should only be able to find my usual upbeat posts from now on.

Here goes the first one...

I found my glasses, it's absolutely beautiful outside...feels like Springtime, Ashley has a new reading coach (I guess it sounds better than a tutor), Zach's iPod is showing signs of life, John has a closet full of dry-cleaned shirts, our bathrooms are fully stocked with the necessary supplies, I was able to do my upper body workout now that my elbow is ok, Zach was moved up a team level in soccer, all homework has been accounted for, we're taking Cameron turtle shopping this weekend, my much needed hair appointment is tonight, the kids Valentines are done and ready for their party, I gave up diet coke...at least while at work, I so enjoyed last night's Nuggets vs Spurs game with John, and finally it's Wednesday...I knew that!

(Katie, Jack and George)

This weekend we had a blast dog-sitting Jack's parents George and Katie...aren't they so cute! It was so fun watching them play together and see that Jack takes after both of them in different ways. He definitely has George's mellow personality but likes running around and playing with toys like Katie. The three of them got along great and we were all actually pretty sad to see them go.